Bereavement Leave

What does bereavement leave cover?

After a death, bereavement leave may give someone time to grieve, attend a funeral or other qualifying ceremony, and make related arrangements. The permitted purposes depend on the particular rule or policy. For example, Illinois's Family Bereavement Leave Act expressly includes grieving, making arrangements and attending a funeral or an alternative to it. A memorial service may fit that alternative for an eligible employee after a qualifying event. Other rules may cover different purposes, and some named bereavement routes also cover specified reproductive losses that do not involve a death.

The funeral day and the time needed for arrangements may be different. In Great Britain, an employee whose dependant dies can take reasonable time off to arrange or attend the funeral; that route does not prescribe one fixed “funeral day.” California provides a different timing example: eligible employees may take their covered days separately within its three-month window. Someone could take days around the service and others later for arrangements, subject to the applicable conditions.

Travel can change the dates or amount of time a person needs to request. Acas advises employers to consider short-notice travel abroad when supporting someone after a death. The person and employer can discuss the dates under the applicable rule or policy; travel alone does not add statutory bereavement days.

Who can take bereavement leave, and for which losses?

Eligibility turns on the person's working relationship and the particular loss. Check both before relying on a leave category in a handbook or request form.

Check worker status and the source of the right

Start with the jurisdiction governing the work and the person's actual status there. Check any applicable legal leave route for conditions such as employer coverage or required service, then read the employer policy and any relevant collective agreement. For a genuinely independent engagement, the service agreement may be the key document. A shared label in a handbook or request form does not give every worker the same entitlement.

In Great Britain, government employment-status guidance explains that “contractor” can describe an employee, a worker or a self-employed person, depending on the real working relationship. Suppose two people called contractors work with the same team after a death in their families. If one is actually an employee, they would check the applicable leave rules and workplace policy. A genuinely self-employed provider would generally check the client service contract and discuss any change to dates, deliverables or fees. Their shared label cannot decide either person's entitlement.

Check the qualifying relationship or loss

The relationship matters, but there is no single legal meaning of “immediate family” that works across leave rules. Under California's bereavement law, the listed relatives include a spouse or domestic partner, child, parent, parent-in-law, sibling, grandparent and grandchild. A grandparent is therefore within that particular list; a close friend is not automatically within it. The same state guidance says an employer can voluntarily cover the death of someone beyond the statutory list. Such a benefit comes from the employer's policy, while the statutory minimum still applies to qualifying losses.

Great Britain's time-off-for-dependants route uses its own dependant test. A friend's death does not automatically qualify under that route, even though the employer may offer leave under a broader policy. For a chosen family member or a pet, check the legal category and the policy's covered events and discretion rather than assuming that the word “family” or the closeness of the relationship settles coverage. The manager can then distinguish a protected right, a company benefit and time that needs individual agreement.

Child death and reproductive loss

A child's death or a pregnancy loss may have a specific leave route with conditions different from a general bereavement policy. In Great Britain, an eligible employee can take statutory parental bereavement leave after the death of a child under 18 or a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy. The leave can be one or two weeks; statutory parental bereavement pay has its own eligibility test. An employee should therefore check the leave right and the pay right separately, even when both arise from the same loss.

The stage of pregnancy and the UK nation can change the route. As checked in October 2026, Great Britain's current parental bereavement route does not cover a miscarriage before 24 weeks, although another workplace or health-related route may be relevant. In Northern Ireland, qualifying parental bereavement leave and pay may already apply to a miscarriage before 24 weeks that occurred or was discovered on or after 6 April 2026. Leave and pay remain separate eligibility questions there too. A manager should check where the employee works before applying a Great Britain rule across the UK.

US states can place reproductive loss under different named routes. Illinois's Family Bereavement Leave Act covers eligible employees after miscarriage, stillbirth and certain failed adoption, surrogacy or fertility events. Some of those events do not involve a death, despite the Act's name. California has a separate reproductive loss leave provision rather than treating every such event as an instance of its death-based bereavement statute. Identify the specific route, then check its worker, event, timing and pay conditions; an ordinary family-death policy may not answer them.

How do the rules change by jurisdiction?

The place of work, worker and employer coverage, and date of the loss determine which rules need checking. A local rule may protect time that a company policy does not mention, while a policy may offer more. A day count from another jurisdiction cannot answer an individual request.

United States: federal baseline and selected states

Two federal laws commonly consulted for US leave do not set a uniform number of private-sector bereavement days. The Fair Labor Standards Act does not require pay for time not worked to attend a funeral. The Family and Medical Leave Act's listed qualifying reasons do not include a death or funeral by itself. Neither point resolves an eligible worker's rights under a state law or an employer policy; FMLA may also matter for a separate qualifying health or caregiving reason, discussed later.

California: a state-law floor

For California's death-based bereavement leave, an eligible employee who has been employed for at least 30 days by a covered private employer with at least five employees can take a minimum of five days after a listed family member's death. A company policy promising fewer days cannot cut that statutory floor. The California Civil Rights Department's guidance also says the days need not be consecutive, provided they are completed within three months of the death. An employee with a three-day policy could therefore check eligibility for the additional statutory days and use covered days around the funeral and later in that window.

The statute does not itself make those days paid. Employer-paid bereavement leave or available accrued paid leave can affect what the employee receives; the guidance says available paid leave may be used. An employer may ask for documentation of the death after leave starts, with 30 days from the first day of leave for the employee to supply it. These are California conditions for this leave, so a manager should check the worker's coverage and the relevant policy before applying them.

Illinois: a different protected route

Illinois's Family Bereavement Leave Act covers eligible employees of FMLA-covered employers who have at least 12 months of service and 1,250 hours worked in the previous 12 months. It provides up to two weeks, or 10 workdays, of unpaid leave for a qualifying event, to be completed within 60 days after notice of the event. Illinois Department of Labor guidance includes deaths of covered family members and specified reproductive events such as miscarriage. This is a different eligibility, event and timing test from California's five-day death-based floor.

Illinois also limits what an employer can ask about a reproductive loss. The employer may seek reasonable documentation but cannot require the employee to identify which category of event occurred. For example, a manager should not demand that a worker say whether the loss was a miscarriage or another covered event as a condition of leave. The Act's leave is unpaid; the employee may choose to substitute available paid leave, but the employer cannot compel that choice. The documentation and paid-leave rules here belong to Illinois's Act, not to every bereavement policy.

Federal civilian employees are a separate case

The US Office of Personnel Management's funeral and bereavement guidance concerns covered federal civilian employees. It allows sick leave for bereavement within a combined annual limit of 104 hours for family care and bereavement. It also describes a separate three-workday funeral leave for a qualifying combat-related death of an immediate relative. The 104 hours are not an extra bereavement bank, and the three-day rule is not a general family-death entitlement. Neither provision sets a private employer's bereavement policy.

United Kingdom: current rights and announced changes

For a UK request, identify the nation and date of the loss. Great Britain and Northern Ireland have distinct current routes, and an announced Great Britain change has not yet started.

Current dependant and parental routes

In Great Britain, an employee can take reasonable unpaid time off when a dependant dies to deal with the immediate matter, including arranging or attending the funeral. It is not a fixed number of grieving days after any death. A workplace policy may provide pay or time beyond that route. Northern Ireland has its own dependant time-off guidance, also describing reasonable unpaid time to arrange or attend a dependant's funeral; use that local guidance for a Northern Ireland request.

Great Britain's separate statutory parental bereavement route applies to an eligible employee after a child under 18 dies or a stillbirth after 24 weeks. The leave is available from the first day of employment, can be taken in one- or two-week blocks, and may be used within 56 weeks. Statutory parental bereavement pay has additional eligibility requirements, so approving leave does not by itself approve pay. A miscarriage before 24 weeks does not meet the current Great Britain parental route as checked in October 2026; another policy or health-related route may need to be considered on its own terms.

Northern Ireland already has a different parental bereavement route for a qualifying miscarriage before 24 weeks if it occurred or was discovered on or after 6 April 2026. Depending on the scheme's conditions, an eligible person may qualify for leave, pay or both. A manager handling that loss now should assess the Northern Ireland scheme, rather than assume the Great Britain parental threshold applies throughout the UK.

Announced wider rights from 2027

In September 2026, the UK government announced wider family-bereavement rights for Great Britain and up to two weeks of unpaid leave for pregnancy loss before 24 weeks. Both were planned for April 2027 through secondary legislation. As checked on 25 October 2026, they are future measures, not current Great Britain statutory entitlements. For a loss now, a manager should apply current law and the existing policy, while checking the later legislation and its commencement date before updating the statutory leave process.

For a pre-24-week miscarriage, Northern Ireland's qualifying 2026 route can already be assessed. Great Britain's proposed 2027 route cannot yet be used as a statutory entitlement. The diagram shows where each route stands as of the check date.

Caption: Checked 25 October 2026. Northern Ireland's route applies to qualifying losses from 6 April 2026; leave and pay are separate tests. Great Britain's wider right is announced, not in force. Check commencement before acting. Northern Ireland Executive: Parental bereavement leave and pay · GOV.UK: Parental bereavement leave and pay · UK Department for Business: Announced bereavement rights

Germany: special leave and agreements

Germany's Civil Code §616 preserves remuneration when someone is prevented from performing services for a relatively short time for a personal reason without fault, where that provision applies. The Federal Labour Ministry names a death in the family as one possible case. That example does not turn §616 into a fixed bereavement leave bank: the current statute lists no events or number of days, and the individual's circumstances still matter.

An employment, collective or works agreement can change how the rule applies, including to the worker's disadvantage. Read the applicable terms and the circumstances before deciding whether remuneration continues and for how long. If a policy says “two days,” that number comes from the policy; §616 itself promises no fixed two-day allotment. The absence of a policy line also does not settle whether §616 applies.

An English-language result for a German leave question may instead describe the Netherlands government's proposal for a specific bereavement right. The Dutch proposal is not in force, has no effective date and cannot answer a German worker's request. It also does not mean that all existing Dutch time-off routes after a death are absent. Before using an online day count or announced right, check both its jurisdiction and commencement.

Is bereavement leave paid, and how long can it last?

Check the applicable legal route and workplace benefit for three separate answers: which time is protected, which days are paid, and when the days may be used. One provision may answer only one of those questions.

Separate time-off protection from pay

Protected time away does not automatically preserve normal wages. An employer may pay for bereavement days under its own policy, while a statute protects more days without itself requiring pay. Accrued paid time may sometimes be used for an otherwise unpaid day, subject to that route's rules. Payroll therefore needs to identify the source of pay for each approved day; approval of the absence does not by itself approve full pay.

For example, suppose a California employer's policy pays for three bereavement days. An eligible employee may still have the state's five-day minimum after a covered death. California's guidance says the statute itself does not require wages for the leave and allows available accrued paid leave to be used. The first three days could be paid under the assumed policy; the remaining protected days require a separate pay check against the policy and any accrued leave.

Illinois makes the choice over substitution explicit. Its Family Bereavement Leave Act provides unpaid leave to eligible employees, who may choose to use available paid leave; the employer cannot force that substitution. In Great Britain, statutory parental bereavement leave and statutory parental bereavement pay also have separate eligibility tests: an employee may qualify for leave from the first day of employment without necessarily qualifying for statutory pay. These examples do not set a general paid or unpaid rule for every bereavement request. Holiday or PTO balances, and any health-related sick leave, follow their own conditions rather than automatically paying for bereavement days.

Duration and timing

A rule or policy may specify a maximum amount, a deadline for using it, and whether the days must be consecutive or taken in blocks. The qualifying relationship or event, worker and employer eligibility, and any more generous policy can change the available amount. Someone arranging a funeral should check those terms before assuming the whole allowance must be taken immediately or can be saved indefinitely.

California illustrates separate days: its bereavement guidance gives the example of an eligible employee using three days first and two later. The five protected days need not be consecutive, but they must be used within three months after the death. Great Britain's parental bereavement route works differently: an eligible employee can take one or two weeks in week-long blocks within 56 weeks. Those windows and block rules answer different scheduling questions, and neither can be copied into another leave category.

Funeral dates and travel can complicate that schedule. Acas recommends considering short-notice travel abroad when an employer decides how to support someone after a death. If travel requires more time than the applicable rule or policy provides, the person should discuss the dates and any additional agreed leave with the employer. Travel does not automatically extend a statutory window or add protected days.

How does bereavement leave differ from other leave?

Identify the event and the reason for the absence, then read the applicable rule or policy for eligibility, pay and approval. The name on a request form does not establish what the time covers.

Bereavement, compassionate, funeral and PTO

Bereavement leave generally addresses a loss and its aftermath. A policy called “funeral leave” may focus on attending a service, while a bereavement policy may also cover grieving and arrangements on other days. Those names are not fixed legal definitions. For example, Great Britain's time-off-for-dependants route can include arranging or attending a dependant's funeral, but that does not create a separate funeral-day allowance after every death. Read the actual purpose and qualifying relationship in the route being used.

“Compassionate leave” can be broader than leave after a death, or an employer may use it as another name for bereavement time. Northern Ireland's official guidance uses “compassionate leave” alongside time off for dependants, a specific unpaid route with its own conditions. An employer's optional compassionate policy may work differently. Check whether it covers the person's situation, how much time is available and whether it is paid.

Holiday or PTO is general-purpose paid time drawn from an available balance, subject to its own request and approval terms. Suppose someone needs to care for a seriously ill parent before the parent dies. That need calls for a check of a caregiving or other available leave route, perhaps alongside holiday or PTO; a death-triggered bereavement category does not describe the absence yet. If the parent later dies, a bereavement or funeral provision may become relevant. Using the right category matters because a policy benefit, a protected legal route and a general paid balance can have different conditions even when all appear in the same time-off form.

Medical, family and caregiver routes

Bereavement time does not automatically become medical or family leave when more days are needed. In the United States, a death, funeral or estate task is not by itself among the federal FMLA's qualifying reasons. An eligible employee might, however, qualify under FMLA for care of a parent with a serious health condition before the death. That caregiving reason does not continue merely to cover the funeral. After the loss, the employee's own serious health condition could be a distinct FMLA reason if the employer, employee and medical facts meet the law's conditions. Grief alone should not be coded as a qualifying diagnosis or treated as an automatic FMLA entitlement.

In Great Britain, Acas advises checking sick leave if bereavement affects an employee's health; the health-related absence is a separate question from time off for the death. Likewise, if the person now needs to care for someone else in the household, that continuing duty calls for its own leave or working-arrangement check. In either case, the worker and employer should identify the reason for the new absence and assess that route's eligibility and evidence rules instead of extending a bereavement category by assumption.

In England, Scotland and Wales, one specific route for a surviving child's new main carer is Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave. It took effect on 6 April 2026 for a qualifying death on or after that date. Under the eligibility rules, an employee who is the child's father or a qualifying spouse or partner may use it after the child's mother, main adopter or main intended parent dies, if the employee takes the main caring responsibility. It is available without a minimum length of employment. For example, an employee whose partner dies soon after their child is born should check these conditions if they now become the child's main carer; a relationship label alone does not prove eligibility.

The statutory leave is unpaid and taken in one continuous block. It can last up to 52 weeks depending on the child's birth or adoption date and the date of death, usually ending by the child's first birthday or the first anniversary of adoption placement or entry. If the primary carer dies fewer than 14 days before that deadline, the employee can take up to two weeks, ending within 14 days of the death. During qualifying leave, holiday continues to accrue and dismissal or detriment for using the right is prohibited; return-to-work protection also applies under its own rules. Those protections do not turn the unpaid leave into statutory pay or promise an identical job in every return situation.

This route is for caring for a surviving child after a primary carer's death. Parental bereavement leave addresses a child's death, while the wider Great Britain family-bereavement and pregnancy-loss measures announced for 2027 were still prospective as checked in October 2026. Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave does not extend to Northern Ireland. The nature of the loss, caring responsibility, jurisdiction and date determine which route to examine.

How should leave be requested and recorded?

A request should establish the expected absence and the rule or policy that may cover it, while keeping personal details as private as the decision permits. Notice and proof requirements vary by route; a form or verbal approval alone does not settle them.

Ask, confirm and document sensitively

Contact the usual manager or HR channel as soon as feasible and give the dates known so far. In Great Britain, Acas advises that a friend or family member can make initial contact if the bereaved person cannot, and that the worker and employer can agree how often and by what method to stay in touch, as well as who at work may be told. That is useful practice, not a universal replacement for local notice requirements. For example, Illinois's Family Bereavement Leave Act generally calls for at least 48 hours' notice unless that is not reasonable and practicable.

Once the immediate need is clear, the employer should identify the applicable statutory or policy route, confirm the approved workdays and pay treatment in writing, and agree when any uncertain return date will be updated. A person may know the funeral date but not yet know whether further arrangements or travel will require another day; the record can reflect what is approved now and what remains to be discussed. Ask only for details needed under the relevant route, and respect the worker's preference about what colleagues are told.

Proof is another jurisdiction-specific decision. For covered California bereavement leave, state guidance permits an employer to request documentation of the death after leave starts, with 30 days from the first day of leave for the employee to provide it. Under Illinois's reproductive-loss provisions, an employer may request reasonable documentation but cannot require the employee to identify which covered event occurred. A standard form that demands the precise event category would therefore be the wrong proof request for that Illinois route. Neither example creates a universal proof rule.

Selecting “bereavement” or “paid” in a time-off form only routes the request. It does not establish eligibility, approve the absence or decide who pays for it. After checking the rule and policy, the employer can record the approved category, workday dates and paid or unpaid treatment, while keeping unnecessary sensitive details out of the routine record. Payroll then has the information needed without treating the dropdown as an entitlement test.

Check a refusal or a missing policy

If there is no written bereavement policy, ask which rule the manager applied and check the employment or collective agreement, handbook and current guidance for the work location. A statutory route may still protect an eligible request; an employer may also choose to grant time under a broader or discretionary policy. If a request is declined, get the reason in writing and check the relevant facts—worker status, qualifying loss, dates, notice and any permitted proof—before treating the decision as final.

For example, a friend's death does not automatically meet Great Britain's dependant route, but Acas says an employer may still offer leave when the deceased person is not a child or dependant. A company policy might cover that loss even if the statutory route does not. Conversely, in California, a covered employee's five-day statutory floor after a listed family member's death cannot be cut to three days by a shorter handbook policy. The California Civil Rights Department guidance gives the eligibility conditions and an enforcement route.

If the facts indicate a protected right was missed, the worker can first take the rule and the written decision to HR or the employer's review channel. If that does not resolve a California statutory claim, the state civil-rights agency identified in its guidance is a route to check; in another jurisdiction, use the relevant local authority's process. A declined discretionary request may instead call for a discussion of other available time off. None of these steps makes every refusal lawful or unlawful without the individual eligibility and notice facts.

What if the person needs more time or support?

If the first period of bereavement leave is not enough, the worker and employer can discuss additional time and a return plan. The next days may be paid under a policy, taken from available holiday or PTO, or agreed as unpaid time; they are not automatically an extension of a statutory bereavement allowance. Acas advises considering these options when someone needs longer away. Confirm which dates and pay treatment are agreed, and arrange a further conversation if the likely return date is still uncertain.

An employee whose health is affected can check a separate sick or medical leave route, with that route's own eligibility and evidence requirements. A death does not by itself establish eligibility for health-related leave. If returning at full hours is difficult, the worker and manager can discuss a temporary change to hours or duties, a phased return and the timing of check-ins. Acas recommends discussing the return and the person's contact preferences; any arrangement still needs to fit the relevant workplace terms and local rules.

For example, the trip to a funeral may end while a new responsibility to care for a surviving relative continues. The travel and funeral may have used the available bereavement days, but ongoing care calls for a separate check of caregiver leave, flexible work or another agreed arrangement. A manager can ask what work pattern is feasible and when to review it without assuming that the original bereavement category covers every later absence or promising a particular accommodation.

What should a bereavement policy specify?

A useful policy tells a worker and manager how to reach a decision before a loss occurs. It should state whom the benefit covers and which deaths or other qualifying events count, including how it treats partners, extended family, friends and reproductive loss if those are within its scope. The policy can offer broader support than a local statute, but it must be checked against each applicable legal minimum. Acas's example policy sets out coverage, pay, notice, additional time and contact arrangements as decisions to make explicit.

The policy should distinguish the amount and timing of leave from how it is paid. State how many workdays or weeks are available, when they may be used, whether they can be split, and how a worker asks for more time when a funeral, travel or later arrangements do not fit the initial dates. Specify which days the employer pays, whether an eligible worker may use other accrued paid time, and how payroll records the different sources. A single “three paid days” entry cannot tell a manager whether local law protects further unpaid days.

Set a humane process as well: whom to notify, what to do if the worker cannot make initial contact, what dates to confirm, when an update is expected, and who makes a decision. Explain when proof may be requested under local rules and who may see sensitive details. For example, a form used for Illinois Family Bereavement Leave Act requests must not force an employee to identify which qualifying reproductive event occurred, even though reasonable documentation may be sought. The policy should let a manager confirm the leave category, dates and pay in writing without circulating details of the loss through ordinary payroll or team records.

Give managers a defined way to approve extra time or a broader relationship, apply that discretion consistently, and refer a disputed decision to HR or another review channel. State how the employer will discuss contact during leave and a flexible or phased return where appropriate; these are matters to arrange, not automatic promises of a particular adjustment. Review the policy by work location as laws take effect or change so an older day count is not administered as a current universal rule.

For example, a company could voluntarily pay for time after the death of a close friend. That broader relationship rule would not reduce an eligible California employee's five-day statutory floor after a listed family member dies, even if the company's paid benefit is shorter. The policy needs to tell the manager which protection applies to each request and which portion, if any, is paid.

How does this work for independent contractors?

The word “contractor” on an agreement or in a platform does not decide bereavement rights. Start with where the work is done and the person's actual legal status there, then check the rights and documents that apply to that status. This checking sequence does not replace local status rules.

Great Britain shows why the status step matters. Government guidance says someone called a contractor may in reality be an employee, a worker or genuinely self-employed, depending on how the relationship operates. An employee should check the conditions of any applicable statutory bereavement route and the employer policy. Someone with worker status needs a check of the rights attached to that status and their terms. A genuinely self-employed provider generally looks to the client service contract for contractual rights and practical changes, rather than assuming an employee leave balance. The label alone neither grants nor removes a right.

Suppose a genuinely independent provider loses a parent just before a scheduled delivery. The client and provider can discuss which deadline or deliverable moves, who will handle urgent work, and whether the change affects fees or invoicing. Put the agreed dates, work and payment treatment in writing so neither side has to infer them from an employee time-off form. That discussion does not itself decide the provider's legal status, which depends on the wider working relationship. If the facts suggest the person is actually an employee or worker, reassess the relevant rights and policy before treating the service contract as the full answer.

The Great Britain decision diagram maps each possible status to the document or right to check next. It does not decide an individual engagement or transfer those status categories to another country.

Caption: Great Britain guidance: a contractor may be an employee, worker or genuinely self-employed. These branches identify what to check; they do not decide entitlement. Check each leave route's conditions and use local rules elsewhere. GOV.UK: Employment status and employment rights guidance · GOV.UK: Self-employed contractor rights · Acas: Time off for bereavement